Tim Worstall

Most, of course, are simply trying to protect consumers. But is that strictly necessary? Have we really taken leave of our senses? We are all perfectly capable of using the equipment we possess, along with common sense, to take responsibility for ourselves. Both sniffing and examining fresh ingredients is a perfectly reliable way to tell [...]

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This is a surprise: The government’s “nudge unit” wants to encourage the use of smokeless nicotine cigarettes, banned in many countries around the world, in an attempt to reduce the numbers killed in the UK by smoking diseases each year. The Cabinet Office’s behavioural insight team – better known as the nudge unit – wants [...]

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Allotment holders have been banned from donating home-grown vegetables and jam to local hospice – because the gifts breach health and safety rules No, you’re still allowed to donate for the patients to eat: after all, they are already dying. No, it’s this: For years amateur gardeners at Botcherby Paddock, Carlisle, have donated their produce [...]

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A PUB landlord who was jailed for defying the smoking ban says he was allowed to light up in his cell. Nick Hogan, 43, claims he was even given tobacco, cigarette papers and matches by prison officers. He got six months after refusing to pay fines for flouting the 2007 ban. And he was stunned [...]

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About this Flight 253 thing: Abdulmutallab, the privately-educated son of one of Nigeria’s most prominent bankers, managed to smuggle his bomb aboard the aircraft by strapping a condom filled with the high explosive PETN to the inside of his leg and then attempting to detonate it using a syringe filled with a liquid chemical. The [...]

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Can’t you just feel the incomes policy coming? But there is growing support to restrict bumper pay in financial services. A hearing in Brussels this week was told by one witness that “in the same way that remuneration and fees structures caused the risks within the banks”, the high levels of pay within hedge funds [...]

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Count yourself lucky dear. A heavily pregnant woman and her fiance have gone on the run after social workers threatened to take away their baby at birth. Kerry Robertson, 17, and Mark McDougall, 25, had been told that she was not bright enough to raise their child and that they would have to give him [...]

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But entirely futile: The research released to mark Alcohol Awareness Week this week coincides with another report which found that alcohol is being sold for as little as 9p per unit. It means that three pints (six units) could be bought for 54pence, approximately the cost of a Mars bar. Professor Martin Plant, lead author [...]

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Certainly, at this stage I don’t believe you. Early results of a study commissioned by the Department of Health revealed heart attack rates dropped by about a tenthin England in the year after the ban was introduced in July 2007. Separate research found an even sharper decrease – 14 per cent – in Scotland, where [...]

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The latest statistics indicate that, between March and May this year, a record 927,000 individuals were working fewer than 30 hours a week because they could not find a full-time job, a rise of 38 per cent on last year. The figures include new employees who have been hired on a part-time basis and existing [...]

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Alan Johnson told us that the display of tobacco products will be banned. It worked in Iceland at reducing teenage smoking rates so it will work here. Hmm. Gosh, I wonder if the statistics hold up there? Umm. No. The statistics don’t hold up. Such a surprise, eh? Government Minister lying to the public. Big [...]

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The snack vans, often found in busy lay-bys, must now offer soup, salads or low fat yogurts with their artery-clogging kebabs. They must also limit the amount of mayonnaise served – because it has been branded a "very high fat product". Environmental health officers will inspect menus during routine hygiene checks. And traders who fail [...]

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Karl Walker was told by a cleaning firm that he is not old enough to use hot water, washing up liquid and furniture polish or to empty bins. The AS-level student and a friend were hired by Apollo Cleaning and worked in offices in Chippenham, Wiltshire, for a week until a regional manager ordered them [...]

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A father described yesterday how he was nearly swept to his death trying to rescue a girl at a beach where a coastguard crew were forbidden from launching their boat. Lee Dobson, 35, told The Times that he and two other men had been in danger of drowning after going to the aid of a [...]

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Pretty please? I’ll even provide the lamp post if necessary: A volunteer coastguard crew face disciplinary action after going to the rescue of a teenage swimmer in a boat that had recently been repaired and was awaiting a seaworthiness inspection. The four crewmen were on duty at Hope Cove in South Devon when the 15-year-old [...]

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A self-employed painter and decorator has been given a £30 on-the-spot fine for smoking in his own van because it is classified as a workplace. Gordon Williams, 58, went out to buy some teabags for his wife when he was stopped as part of a roadside check by council officials. Moments earlier he had lit [...]

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The Government’s top doctor said England should follow Europe and America and ban teenage drivers from drinking any alcohol at all in order to prevent accidents. Now it sounds as if such a ban should indeed help. Pass a law, everybody obeys it and Bob’s your parental sibling of choice. However, that little addition of [...]

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Hundreds of thousands of parents will be banned from ferrying children to sports matches next year unless they have had criminal records checks, under new rules. The clampdown is part of an escalation in child protection policies which will see 11 million adults vetted before they come into contact with children or vulnerable adults. Under [...]

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A nice piece of banstubation here. We have the first part, a real tragedy: Drivers have been given a stark warning of the dangers of hands-free mobile phone calls after a haulier was jailed for causing a fatal crash whilst talking on a Bluetooth headset. Then we have the call for the ban: Relatives of [...]

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